from WMCA Transport Levy Expenditure leaflet

How much each year does the WMCA spend on free public transport for elders like me, and the other concessionary groups? What would it cost to extend it to everyone?

The amount spent on reimbursement for free concessionary travel for 2019/20 was £48.43m

In addition to this, we also offer an enhancement to English National Concessionary

Travel Scheme (ENCTS) pass holders who live in the West Midlands. This allows them to use their passes on local Rail services and Metro. This cost in 2019/20 was £4.04m.

Finally, we provide a child concession. This cost in 2019/20 was £6.15m.

SELF: All concessions: £58 m for 19/20

Rail and Metro services cost £10.2 m in 2022/23

Metro is £7.6 m for 23 Kms in 22/23 - from earlier email I was sent.

Therefore, rail subsidy must be £2.7 m in 22/23 for more Kms than 23 Kms for Metro!

All concessions: £60 m for 22/23.

The Great Transport Divide

You ask, "How do we prevent privatised bus companies from exploiting a system of full subsidy for all fares under the current system?"

By individuals and councils becoming shareholders in those companies.  And:-

There is no difference in the character and integrity of us lot who work either for privatised companies or, as I have done all my working life, for the public sector.  If anything, those of us who work (or have worked in my case) in the public sector, are more cosseted by the 'certainty' of public funding and better pensions.  But less so now with Brum CC's bankruptcy and very severe cuts.

You make very good points that I appreciate.  I do hope you are right.  Franchising report goes to the WMCA Board on the 19 July for them to consider options put to them.  Yesterday, at the Pensioners' meeting, Chris Parkinson, Bus Partnership Manager, was saying that there will be public consultation and two or three years to implement franchising.

One grave injustice is funding disparity for public transport between London, the regions and the shires.  £19 billion Elizabeth Line for London, many £100s m for immoral Metro, the scandalous, second most expensive mode to construct after High Scam 2, for the W Mids and, a disgraceful, slum of a bus station with broken roof panels (STILL!) in Kidderminster, Worcestershire.  This is where the fight must start!  I need more courageous help from the up and coming generation.

THE GREAT TRANSPORT DIVIDE, here:

Do listen to this Radio 4 programme from 2018 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b0b86z4s

Support from Halesowen

Last night, the Halesowen Community Forum for five Dudley wards, their 15 councillors and about 50 citizens from those places in the south of Dudley borough met and considered this proposition:

"DO YOU SUPPORT SAVING OVER £100 MILLION, by campaigning for the Dudley Tram, now that it is on the Black Country Railway (part of one London to Edinburgh mainline), to stay on it, in order to connect with the national railway network at Stourbridge Jct? This will save at least £100 million from NOT building a tramway viaduct to destroy housing land, public open space, nature and my vertical guerrilla garden at Merry Hill Shopping Centre."

No one spoke in opposition or voted against. One person asked if it would affect the operation of the Stourbridge Shuttle. I answered 'No. That short branch line is separate from the mainline used by the tram and freight trains to Round Oak.

MORE DETAIL

Saving over £100 m in this way, would stop the influx of Dudley town shoppers descending on Merry Hill when Dudley traders want and need the custom to help them survive.

Merry Hill was given the monorail in the 1990s but chose not to keep it.

Merry Hill has always had free car parking. It should not be given a tramway for free, too.

Keeping the tram on the railway to Stourbridge Jct still enables a bus service from the tram at Round Oak or Hart's Hill into Merry Hill.

Freight trains would continue at night, with the tram on the railway in the daytime.

Saving over £100 m would strengthen the case for bus franchising - by paying for it.

ALL THIS EXPENDITURE SHOULD BE USED TO ADDRESS BRUM'S BANKRUPTCY.

Bankrupt Brum is easily the biggest of the 7 W Midlands councils.

Wacking great big sacrifices are having to be made by their over 1 million population. 

YET, the massive expenditure for £15 billion for 150 miles of mainly tram extensions has not been cancelled.

Nor, has that useless High Scam 2, Curzon Street station, of major embarrassment, been cancelled for a proper, more useful railway to alleviate congestion and climate disaster.

Sprint buses are grossly extravagant and very nice, like Metro but, hardly necessary. 

I think HMG should give Brum the billions now being spent on armaments for other countries, especially largesse for vicious, brutal Israel;

by abandoning greedy, grandiose, wealth-flaunting and totally unnecessary projects like High Scam 2, Metro expansion, Sprint and multi-modal transport.

High Scam 2 should be converted to a much more useful ordinary railway that we can all use that actually has STATIONS!!

ALL THIS EXPENDITURE SHOULD BE USED TO ADDRESS BRUM'S BANKRUPTCY.

THE PROBLEM WITH BUS FRANCHISING - not radical and, certainly, not radical enough

Please check this out for correctness, accuracy:-

THE PROBLEM WITH BUS FRANCHISING - please correct and answer questions where necessary in your reply.  Thanks.

I think, money spent on franchising would be better spent on cutting fares towards Fare-Free Public Transport (FFPT).  I've had it for 16 years but you youngsters are far more important and deserving and should get it, too.

When we last had franchising it didn't work. It did not stop rising car use and rising congestion and pollution.

Even now, fares and subsidies on loss-making routes are negotiated between TfWM and the bus companies. 

Don't let the councillors do yet more self-important empire building.

Their past record with trams was abysmal  - they simply got shot of the lot!

Their track record with the present trams is of delays and much confusion over trains and trams. They don't know the difference.  They built 23 Kms of tramway in 42 years, of which 20 Kms should have been trains on train lines.  What a mix up!

Could the councils become shareholders, plough their dividends into loss making but socially necessary routes and, towards FFPT?

More important than control or ownership is money for the bus operators. 

The transport planners have a single-minded devotion to tram networks and Sprint - the bus that thinks its a tram. Instead, go for schemes that reward motorists who leave their precious cars at home,eg: FFPT and other public transport incentives to reward car commuters rather than enraging them.

FROM KEZ SLEEMAN:

"I will answer your questions with one of my own, sorry:

"How do we prevent privatised bus companies from exploiting a system of full subsidy for all fares under the current system?

"There is a whole team at TfWM dedicated to bus services. While they may not get their fair share of the funding, the are competent and passionate about improving the bus network from my experience of working with them. There may be challenges in getting it set up, but I don't believe that we are inherently less competent in the west midlands than transport professionals in London who successfully run a far more complex bus network under a franchising model."

British Thuggery Around the World!

The Brits were responsible for the Palestine catastrophe in 1948, Kashmir impasse, the opium wars on China, South Africa war, Bengal famine, the Amritsar massacre, solid support for numerous coups and SE Asian wars for and, courtesy of, our best mate USA, theft of the Chagos Archipelago that is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory and forced displacement of their people, ...

DELIGHTFUL DUDLEY!

Dear Neil

It was good to meet you last week.  I would like to underline one or two points.

THE BLACK COUNTRY CYCLE-WALK MUDWAY

In the mid 1990s, I began cycling to work on more days than taking the car, even though I was an essential car user for my Birmingham City Council social work.  I was soon cycling every day except when snow or ice was around and, from Halesowen into Hockley near the city centre.  On official council business, I was allowed to claim 15p/mile but not for cycle commuting.  That continued until I retired at 65.5 yrs in 2013.  However, I am still cycle commuting to meetings like yours last Thursday.  And, I would like to cycle commute to meetings on the transformed mudway before I'm dead and buried, that is getting closer!

For years, I have been wanting to use the two dismantled railway lines over 22 Kms between Brierley Hill and NW Wolverhampton but it is impossible in our borough because of huge puddles and thick mud.  Please, can I remind you to insist that council workmen must put suitable stone down and cut back the vegetation, as a temporary but annual measure, until the full length has a wide, permanent, all-weather surface?

If the cycle-walkway was professionally finished, it would be a wonderful cycle commuter/business route for cyclists like me and great for all non fossil fuel users - walkers and horse riders, too.  Remember oil and gas reserves are quickly depleting and we have to move away from finite fossil fuels - for not just climate reasons.

Since the 1990s, the national government has been encouraging former car commuters like me to use public transport and to cycle.  Yet, your colleagues failed to put down even a pavement on only one side of the Dudley Southern Bypass in the 1990s.  This was negligent in the light of HMG guidance at the time.  And, scandalous, as is the mud bath that is much of our Dudley section of the Black Country Cycle-Walk Mudway.

THE BLACK COUNTRY RAILWAY

What you and your colleagues have done in the Black Country and Brum is rather like putting London Underground tube trains on the London to Paris, HS1, Eurostar line.  It is the epitomy of negligence, idiocy and incompetence.

To make amends, all you can do now is to keep the trams on the principal mainline railway of national strategic significance on the railway down to Stourbridge Jct.  It will be the world's first train-tram-train railway between Stourbridge Jct and Burton on Trent.

Please, do not allow your TfWM and MMA colleagues to destroy, at Merry Hill, yet more of nature in one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, that will also take housing land and public open space at Merry Hill.  I would love to take you, Neil on my tourist trail of the transport treats, nature sites and my vertical guerrilla garden.  Any day except Tuesdays when I'm on grandad duty.

DUDLEY TOWN CENTRE

Top priority must be, NOT office blocks but blocks of one or two bedrooms flats/apartments that are highly energy efficient, low cost, with no parking spaces, low cost and solar powered, for the most badly housed and migrants.

The ONS, this month is saying that the population of UK will increase from 67 m to 70 m over the next two years.  This will further deepen the housing crisis.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationprojections/bulletins/nationalpopulationprojections/2021basedinterim

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Those of us who swan around in our cars are such a large majority, it is car drivers who make all the decisions affecting everyone else.  As a result, it is car drivers who tend to think that everyone has cars and make decisions to further advantage themselves.  Hence, we get annual free car parking but never a murmur about Fare-Free Public Transport (FFPT).

Now, it is all talk of bus franchising.  Yet, when we last had it, it made not a scrap of difference to all of us deserting buses and using our cars all the more.

THE PROBLEM WITH BUS FRANCHISING

I think, money spent on franchising would be better spent on cutting fares towards FFPT.

When we last had franchising it didn't work. It did not stop rising car use and rising congestion and pollution.

Even now, fares and subsidies on loss-making routes are negotiated between TfWM and the bus companies. 

Don't let the councillors do yet more self-important empire building.

Their past record with trams was abysmal  - they simply got shot of the lot!

Their track record with the present trams is of delays and much confusion over trains and trams. They don't know the difference.  They built 23 Kms of tramway in 42 years, of which 20 Kms should have been trains on train lines.  What a mix up!

Could the councils become shareholders, plough their dividends into loss making but socially necessary routes and, towards FFPT?

More important than control or ownership is money for the bus operators to do what TfWM wants.

The transport planners have a single-minded devotion to tram networks and Sprint - the bus that thinks its a tram. Instead, go for schemes that reward motorists who leave their precious cars at home,eg: FFPT and other public transport incentives to reward car commuters rather than enraging them. 

IS THIS INTERPRETATION, OR HISTORY, FAIR?

It does seem that the Arab nations have the greatest claim on the Holy Land.  YET ... !

For 3,000 years different tribal groups and peoples have been fighting over what the three Abrahamic faiths have called the Holy Land.  And Jerusalem most of all, it seems.

The Old Testament describes how violence, slaughter and warfare gave the land to the people of Israel in the first of the last three millennia.  They saw it as Yahweh (God) giving them the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey.

Romans ruled the land when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 CE and the Jews were scattered to other parts of the world.  They returned in 1948 CE to found the State of Israel.  However, like the first time round, this was a victory in the War of Independence.  Normally, the top nations have always claimed that no nation is allowed to profit from aggression.  How did this slip through the net with the most disastrous consequences ever since for both Arabs and Jews but, particularly, for the Arab Palestinians?

The largely Judeo-Christian West won the 1945 war.  It was a Judeo-Christian nation that was responsible for eliminating 6 million Jews in that war.  Making recompense to the Jews must have been one factor.

Was a second factor the desire in Britain to wash their hands of the whole bloody mess that was killing their people?  Three Jewish terrorist gangs saw off the might of the British Empire as Britain withdrew from Palestine.  The King David Hotel terrorism saw 91 killed.

"The British administrative headquarters for Mandatory Palestine, housed in the southern wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, were bombed in a terrorist attack on July 22, 1946, by the militant right-wing Zionist underground organization Irgun during the Jewish insurgency." Wikipedia

Was a third factor the strong evangelical Christian wing of the Church in the USA who saw the victory in war for their friends, the Jews of whom Jesus Christ was one, a special sign from God?  The God common to both Jews and Christians was fulfilling promises in the Bible, these Christians believe.

Certainly, since 1948 the Judeo-Christian West has always strongly backed Israel to the detriment of Palestinians who have lost out big time over these 76 years.  Today, we continue arming Israel to the teeth for their War of Self Defence to totally eliminate Hamas for good and the good of all.

In the 19th century, Herzl a prominent Jew wanting a Jewish homeland was told by colleagues on returning from Palestine,

"The Bride is Beautiful but she is already taken."

Some Jews, however, were not going to have that.  No way!  Their chance came, once more out of warfare.

For me, the World Wars initiated by the Wicked West has caused the chaos and acts of genocide that is taking place in Gaza in nearly five months of eliminating Hamas.  Yet, victory is still not achieved by the most powerful and well-equipped nation in the Middle East.  The IDF must be incompetent, especially after 76 years of intermittent war that failed so disastrously on 7.10.23

It is a vicious and cruel way of attacking a defenceless nation that is immoral, illegal and disproportionate.  This is the worst example of collective punishment for the poor Gazans.

Israel needs to try the Good Samaritan alternative, methinks!

Squeeze through, chicane, disguised half-stable door!

They are my names for what the anti-walkers' brigade have put in on my secret passage, high above Illey Lane, between the Old Toll House and Illey Mill.  Do go and have a look before the spring/summer growth, please.  I'm trying to use it more, now to help keep the path open but 'snip and cut' is really helpful to keep it open.

I re-opened it between Christmas Day and New Years Day so it can be accessed easily until the brambles and stinging nettles get going!  It is my gateway, access path to the official ROW network but mine is on WCC public highway land.

 

The path is on the Romsley side of the lane down to the mill, using the grass verge to begin with, with my hedge plantings at the mill end.

I need more help, your help please, to get WCC to put a path away from the poisoned air of that busy rat run, nearer to the hedge where walkers will enjoy walking much more.  The WCC Countryside Service has done an excellent job, this winter, in clearing the old, one way, Illey Lane where it runs past 'The Old Toll House' on the Grange Hill House side.

 

Only 100 m is needed out of the full 400 m between Bibbey's gate/track going into the dog training field and Illey Mill.  That 100 m is where the grass verge is and it already gets cut by WCC.  But it needs a professionally engineered and level, one metre wide path cut as near as possible to the hedge.  The WCC also, in some years, cuts that hedge once a year.  The remaining 300 metres that I look after must NOT be touched.  That is where I am slowly renewing the hedge.

 

This route is the Black Country's main gateway, access path into our NW Worcs ROW network, west of the M5 and SW of Illey Lane.

The disguised half-stable door is no more - as from 6 March 2024, I have discovered!

History in Reverse!

In the early 19th century we were using tramways to bring coal and slate out to their destinations. 

Then railways were introduced. In the 20th century, we began converting our railways into tramways. History in reverse!

Russia attacks massive Ukraine. We attack insignificant, tiny Gaza in a righteous war of self defence

 There is a parallel between what our Enemy is doing to Ukraine and what our Friend is doing in Gaza.

14,000 dead in 8 years from 2014 to 2022 in eastern Ukraine.

28,000 dead in 4 MONTHS in Gaza.

The difference is that the 28,000 dead in Gaza is partly down to UK weapons and our profitable arms trading to give every moral support to our Friend in her war of SELF DEFENCE, remember, against an attack from 2 million Palestinians living in the world's biggest open-air prison, the size of the Isle of Wight.  Anything and everything is excused if you insist it is self-defence!

REMEMBER HISTORY

Britain weakly caved into Israeli terrorism in 1948 to allow our Jewish friends to take over Palestine.

Israel's subsequent wars won them more land over these last 76 years.

Normally, the upright, democratic, nations do not allow other countries to profit from aggression but it must be recognised as being different and exceptional for ourselves.  The international community allows us to break the rules.

Israel's one concession in 2005 gave the Palestinians a patch of land the size of the Isle of Wight without their agreement or, the agreement of a single one of Israel's Arab neighbours.  It only resulted in even tighter control by Israel over Gaza and even more resentment for their big, powerful neighbour being in total charge of them.  Shut our troublesome neighbour up in Gaza and throw away the key will solve everything.  Is this their attitude?

£59 m for concessions for 22/23 in WMCA

Rail and Metro services cost £10.3 m in 22/23

Metro is £7.6 m for 23 Kms in 22/23

Therefore rail subsidy £2.7 m in 22/23 for many more Kms than 23 for Metro!

BIG DAY FOR BUS FRANCHISING IS 19 JULY 2024

Dear Kashia of ACORN, Fran and Paul - copied to Laura Shoaf for any corrections, please

I've been told by Laura Shoaf, Chief Exec of the WMCA that a report on bus franchising is being prepared, with recommendations for the full CA Board to consider on Friday 19 July.

"With regards to bus franchising, as you will be aware, TfWM is undertaking a Full Franchising Assessment which will include consideration of associated costs. The assessment is currently in progress and due to be reported at the West Midlands Combined Authority Board in July."  The members of that Board will then decide after due consideration of the options.  Not the Mayor to decide who is not empowered to be, in any way, dictatorial in stamping his Rule or Authority on others.

Am I correct in thinking that what we had for many decades before the 1980s bus privatisation was bus franchising in all but name?  Even then, council owned and operated bus services did not prevent the poor use of buses as the popularity of car use, instead of bus use, continued to rise and road traffic congestion got worse.  And, of course, the councils destroyed their public tramways in the 50s and about one-third of their railways in subsequent decades - continuing to this very day with their destruction of 6 Kms out of 56 Kms of the 120 Kms Black Country Railway between London and Edinburgh.  Is that a correct memory of the facts of the case, at that time?

Secondly, whoever the Metro Mayor happens to be from one Mayoral election to another, is an irrelevance when he/she is empowered to work with the other seven elected council leaders, Chief Execs and senior directors of the seven councils.  There is a senior leadership team that makes decisions that are then confirmed, or otherwise, by the full Board.  Am I correct in my thinking?  Please reply.

FROM MY OWN NOTES of my meeting with Chief Exec Laura Shoaf on 8 February 2024:

• YOU REMARKED that bus franchising was being studied by your staff and a report would go, in due course, to the WMCA Board for members to consider and make a decision.  Was that in the summer?
• I SUGGESTED: Use the money to keep fares as low as possible and continue with the present policy of talking to bus operators to give them the money to run unsocial hours buses.  Don't empire build by owning all the buses - as well as trams.  Changing the system is costly and the bus passenger may not see any improvement or lower fares or more free fares.

I would be glad to hear the other side of the case, if more people (anybody) would only be interested enough to gleefully put me right!!

PUT A PATH WELL AWAY FROM THIS DANGEROUS RAT RUN - ILLEY LANE, HUNNINGTON, HALESOWEN

I need more help, your help please, to get WCC to put a path away from the poisoned air of that busy rat run, nearer to the hedge where walkers will enjoy walking much more.  The WCC Countryside Service has done an excellent job, this winter, in clearing the old, one way, Illey Lane where it runs past 'The Old Toll House' on the Grange Hill House side.

Only 100 m is needed out of the full 400 m between Bibbey's gate/track going into the dog training field and Illey Mill.  That 100 m is where the grass verge is and it already gets cut by WCC.  But it needs a professionally engineered and level, one metre wide path cut as near as possible to the hedge.  The WCC also, in some years, cuts that hedge once a year.  The remaining 300 metres that I look after must NOT be touched.  That is where I am slowly renewing the hedge.

This route is the Black Country's main gateway, access path into our NW Worcs ROW network, west of the M5 and SW of Illey Lane.

Please will you also help, Tony?  And Roy?

Please will WCC Countryside Service respond, this time?  I want to meet with YOU on site, please asap!

They are my names for what the anti-walkers' brigade have put in on my secret passage, high above Illey Lane, between the Old Toll House and Illey Mill.  Do go and have a look before the spring/summer growth, please.  I'm trying to use it more, now to help keep the path open but 'snip and cut' is really helpful to keep it open.

 

I re-opened it between Christmas Day and New Years Day so it can be accessed easily until the brambles and stinging nettles get going!  It is my gateway, access path to the official ROW network but mine is on WCC public highway land.

 

The path is on the Romsley side of the lane down to the mill, using the grass verge to begin with, with my hedge plantings at the mill end.

WELL SAID, BISHOP INGE on Radio 4 'Sunday' this morning

Israel's conduct in its war against Hamas cannot be morally justified, says House of Bishops

The way the war is being prosecuted is morally unjustified, especially when the IDF maintains that for every civilian killed they kill one Hamas fighter.  A ratio that is totally unreasonable and simply of comfort for and is obvious self-deception by the men and women of violence in Israel.

"The pursuit of Hamas is an entirely justifiable aim in Christian just war principles but the destruction and the killing of so many people is not.  We do not believe that the devastating loss of civilian life and the humanitarian catastrophe resulting from Israel's bombardment and siege of Gaza can be morally justified."  John Inge on 'Sunday' this morning.

"The conflating of criticism of Netanyahu with anti-Semitism is not only illogical and unjustified, it is probably responsible for the deplorable increase in attacks on Jews in the UK and elsewhere as the extent of the carnage has become evident."  Andrew McLoughlin on Sunday 18 Feb.

SELF:-

It is NOT anti-Semitism to be opposed to the 76 years of immoral and failed policy of violence to first take and then to suppress, oppress and to stop the Palestinians from having their own homeland alongside Israel.

It is right and essential to condemn the Western foreign policy of strongly supporting Israel, our Judeo-Christian/Western advance base in the mainly Muslim/Arab Middle East when they have slaughtered about 28,000 men, women and children who simply want to be left to survive and who had nothing to do with 7/10/23 and had no idea Hamas was even planning the attack.  Most of the perpetrators must have been killed on the day.  Those who were not, fled with the hostages.

It is immoral for the Israelis to continue to occupy more and more land that Western countries and the UN have decreed is for a Palestinian state.  Because Israel is our friend and ally, an essential member of our sphere of influence, we allow them to do what the hell they like without even calling for an immediate ceasefire, only eventually, a temporary humanitarian ceasefire.  Certainly NOT banning arm sales to them!

It is only just fine and dandy for our members, our side, to profit from aggression by the capture of land and then to keep it for ever.

There is too much talk of anti-Semetism to silence criticism of Israel's abominable behaviour and not enough talk of Islamophobia by the West.  There is no talk of being anti-war, anti-violence and no talk of being pro non-violence and peaceful co-existence with justice.

What we condemn Russia over is exactly what we have been doing in stealing land from the Arabs since 1948 as a result of aggression.  Israel, on our side, says it must prevail, as we fully agree, just as Russia says that it must prevail over taking back Ukraine into its sphere of influence.  Our actions make a mockery of our supposedly so upright and democratic Christian ways.

A Christianity rooted in Israel's history and Scriptures means that we keep up the righteous war in exterminating the evil Hamas.  So evil they hide amongst the Palestinians to allow them to be slaughtered along with themselves.  No recognition that Hamas fighters are also Palestinians defending themselves from Israel's airstrikes and bombardment.  The slaughter goes on as both sides insist they are acting in self-defence.  Eye for an eye in vicious revenge makes them all blind.

Our totally unChristian, hypocritical behaviour does not even bring us to call for a ceasefire of any kind, let alone cut fueling the war by banning the sale of ammunition and armaments to our Israeli friends!  What a joke both our democratic ways and our supposedly righteous Christian ways are.

No wonder I think our Judeo-Christian faith is morally bankrupt and is light years away from the Founder's intention!

Tim Weller

The Office for National Statistics projects the number of people living in the UK will rise from 67 million to 70 million by 2026.

from LARRY ELLIOTT

Tough choices. We must be willing to make tough choices. It is a soundbite heard frequently from politicians, often accompanied by another chestnut: there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Both statements are true. Free lunches are few and far between. There are tough choices that need to be made. But, like most other developed countries in similar circumstances, Britain is reluctant to make them.

Tough choices implies a willingness to make sacrifices and that doesn’t fit well with the west’s “I want it all now” culture. Politicians pander to this. They talk about the need to make tough choices but in fact look for the soft option, because that’s what keeps the punters happy.

The debate over immigration is a case in point. Migration is a hot topic here, as it is in Germany, France, the Netherlands and the US. What’s more, it is certain to remain a salient political issue.

--------------------------------

But while the long-term solution might well be a different economic model – higher wage, higher productivity, more highly automated – getting to that better world will not be easy or cost-free. It means either higher taxes to pay for higher levels of public spending or higher prices for consumers, and quite possibly both.

So there’s a choice that has to be made: embrace high levels of net migration and fundamentally rethink housing; or reduce net migration to late 20th-century levels and fundamentally rethink the economy. It can’t be ducked.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/04/should-the-uk-embrace-higher-net-migration-or-re-think-the-economy?CMP=share_btn_link

More sensible priority for funding

Does the GP support me in campaigning for the hundreds of millions of pounds going into Metro and Sprint extensions, being diverted into helping the lowest incomes in our region?

Should they have Fare-Free Public Transport (FFPT) as I have had for 16 years?

Should they have decent, first class, low cost, highly energy efficient housing as I have enjoyed for 48 years?  My home has been solar-powered for the last ten years to bring small energy bills.

Should they be given worthwhile work to insulate every building to cut energy bills, urgently?  

Should every able-bodied person who is seeking asylum be trained and put to work in this way?   

10 questions

 

1. Why did the Merry Hill monorail only last from 1990 to 1993 before in use for many years subsequently in Queensland, Australia?  Is it still in use there?
2. Why was the monorail never connected to the railway at the Waterfront/Round Oak Rail terminal with the railway having its trains back then?  It fell 400 metres short.
3. Why was the railway not re-opened for passenger use then?
4. Therefore, 30 years of added road congestion and air pollution?
5. Did Centro refuse to co-operate with the Richardson brothers because Centro/PTA wanted the tram, instead?
6. The Metro tram going to Merry Hill was born in 1981.  Is that correct?
7. Or, what exactly, is the truth over the coming of the monorail and then its all too quick demise?
8. May I show you the monorail station in the roof of the shopping centre with its still working lift down to the stores?  Up to now, opened to the public on anniversaries.
9. If you keep the Dudley Tram on the railway to connect with the national railway network, would it get more passengers if you provided an electric bus from the tram stop at Waterfront/Round Oak into the bus station?
10. Can you use the money saved to give Fare-Free Public Transport (FFPT), to encourage modal shift?

METRO EXTENSIONS DETAILED, with maps

Dudley Tram aka WBHE Phase 2 from Flood St, Dudley to Cottage St, Brierley Hill. WBHE = Wednesbury Brierley Hill Extension.  I'm trying to stop Phase 2 completely or, at least, to have the tram connect with the national railway network at Stourbridge Jct by keeping it on the mainline railway

 "of national strategic significance".pdf

from Cinder Bank roundabout to Stourbridge Jct station.  It would have been easier, simpler and cheaper to have put freight and passenger trains on the 56 Kms missing link on the London to Edinburgh railway between Stourbridge and Burton on Trent.  Everything is already built apart from the stations.

MAPS, here:

from Railfuture:

Shows the extent of the negligence, idiocy and incompetence over more than 40 years as we all stew in traffic jams:

 Railfuture's full map.pdf

 Map Wednesbury - Brierley Hill.pdf

Shows how it destroys nature, public open space and housing land:

 WBHE plan for Merry Hill.jpeg

Show all the extensions planned since 1981:

 Metro map with my notes.pdf

Shows the destruction of nature, public open space and land for housing:

 Brierley Hill Map.pdf

Birmingham Eastside Extension of 1.7 Kms from Bull St via Curzon Street Station to to a new terminus at High Street Deritend.

"An additional extension will see the Birmingham Eastside route taken further eastwards, serving Solihull and terminating at the core HS2 interchange. When open for passenger service in 2026 it will allow access by tram to the airport, National Exhibition Centre and Genting Arena."

But the £144m/Km tram is now not due to open to High St Deritend until 2027, at the earliest, because Curzon St Sta has to be built first.

£7 m/Km for rebuilding the Borders Railway of 52 Kms through the Southern Uplands of Scotland when it opened in Sept 2015!!  54% single track when the Victorians built the original to double track.

6 new overground lines for London have just been given names today by TfL, I heard on the Radio 2 News.  We get ours used to run cars, shops, homes and trading estates down them - and trams!

OFFICIAL METRO EXTENSIONS SITE:

https://www.tfwm.org.uk/who-we-are/what-we-do/west-midlands-metro-tram-extensions/

Alex Ballinger MP?

"Alex served eight years with the Royal Marines, twice deploying to Afghanistan, before becoming an aid worker and diplomat with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.

"His career led him to organise humanitarian efforts during the war in Syria and he led relief work in the restive tribal districts of Pakistan.

"In 2021 as Kabul fell to the Taliban, Alex was organising a team evacuating aid workers, women’s rights activists and journalists out of the country.

"Ballinger resigned from the Foreign Office appalled at the direction the Conservatives were leading the country.

"He now uses his experience to run a community-based charity that helps people suffering from poor mental health across Birmingham and the Black Country."

https://www.halesowennews.co.uk/news/24114774.former-royal-marine-standing-become-halesowen-mp/?ref=ebmpn&nid=1038&u=8737c9cfe839c7e7bae9d85055c55ab6&date=130224

I do hope that Alex has fully taken on board the catastrophic consequences of our 20-year war on the people of Afghanistan.  He needs to read what Jeremy Bowen,  BBC International Editor has concluded.

13 February 2024

Every rural ,dismantled, sold off railway would be ideal for active travellers

OIL RISES IN PRICE AS RESERVES BECOME EXHAUSTED

Every rural, dismantled, sold-off railway to any old Tom, Dick or Harriet would be ideal for active travellers - like the 19 Kms Black Country urban-rural-urban Cycle-Walk Mudway from Hart's Hill/A461 to NW Wolverhampton on two old railway lines.

Climate problems and finite fossil fuels demand more active people like me to use two wheels.  Therefore, allowing bikes on buses and trams is essential

Kicking up one hell of a fuss, being combative as you say, Zak is the only way to get noticed by the powers that be that we all have to influence.  But obviously in a pleasant, courteous way with some humour if poss, as I have tried to do.  I've used photos of one, professionally made, £400 banner of mine over the M6 Toll, cartoons and I've attempted satire, poking gentle fun at the authorities.

I've aimed to be factual, evidence-based, truthful and accurate.  I've asked, constantly to be corrected if wrong but it seems that my writings, with my sources often included, are correct .

Since I retired 65.5 yrs, I've been much more outspoken and perhaps brave but, always showing a more positive, constructive and helpful alternative.  I now have the time to attend Dudley Council and WMCA meetings to try and engage with officers and members to promote that eco-socialist agenda, as here: nine action points

Questions for Customer Services

PLEASE:  What was the date when you decided to abandon the plans to convert the Camp Hill line into a Metro tramway and, instead, back into a railway line?  It is now getting three of the six new stations (above).

When did you release the press release about the change of plans?  Could I be sent a copy, please.

Who, exactly, made that decision?

Why were there so many delays and blunders that it meant that work was stopped, had to be redone, so it took 7 years to build 700 metres of tramway from St George's Sq to Wolverhampton railway station?

What were the other reasons for the delays?

What was the final cost?

What is the total length of WMCA railway lines that remain available for passenger and/or freight trains to return?

What is the total length of former Network Rail railway lines in the WMCA region, that have been turned into roads, homes, offices, shops and factories or, any other kind of built development?

How could all that money have been more responsibly and sensibly spent to slow your own declared climate emergency rather than accelerate it?